Giants Bring Twitter To Games, Broadcasts

New cross-channel media initiatives are getting complicated. Take the latest social media push from the New York Giants, in partnership with Mass Relevance, covering social media, digital out-of-home video, broadcast TV and experiential marketing.

Among other things, the football franchise will now begin integrating fan tweets on its "jumbotron"-style video boards, as well as other digital displays throughout the stadium, including LED video pylons by the entrances, "ribbon" LED displays between stadium levels and 2,200 flat screen TVs located around the venue.

For fans watching at homes, the Giants will incorporate Twitter into TV broadcasts for the last two preseason games of the year. The team claims it will be the first to introduce live, real-time Twitter updates into its regular broadcast TV coverage.

Mass Relevance is responsible for aggregating, curating and delivering Tweets to stadium displays, TV broadcasts and Giants.com. New Twitter-enabled features and events include online voting for the most important player of each game. Fans can then get discounts on the winning player's associated merchandise at the Giants' online store.

"With over 6.4 million fans in the tri-state area and one of the largest national fan bases in the NFL," Giants chief marketing officer Mike Stevens explained "we have the advantage of playing in an incredible state-of-the-art stadium that lets us do some amazing things to share content to fans in the seats, as well as our viewers at home."

Football isn't the only sport trying to leverage social media to build fan engagement.

Back in March, the Cleveland Indians unveiled a new "social media suite" at Progressive Field, where the biggest social-media users can congregate to watch games together from a privileged position. The Indians are also using MLB.com's At Bat 11 app to enable fans to check in at the stadium, making them eligible for discounts, promotions, and other special offers.

The Indians are also introducing a new group-buying social media ticket offer: Fans can share the special ticket offer with other fans through Facebook and Twitter, getting a better discount as more people sign up. ESPN recently ranked the Cleveland Indians among "MLB's most Twitter-friendly teams."